Grape Groups and Families - Native Wine Grapes of Italy - page 39

another very well-known consultant, points out
that all the Colorino s are extremely resistant to
disease. However, the varieties also present
clear-cut genetic and morphological differences.
The most important Colorino variety, and the
one with the best fi ne winemaking potential, is
Colorino del Valdarno; it is considered a true
native grape of Italy, and many believe it derives
from the domestication of an indigenous wild
grapevine species over millennia.
Other Colorino s aren't necessarily even pure
Vinifera species, but rather hybrids with native
American grapevines. Pisani, Bandinelli, and
Camussi (1997) showed that Colorino Ameri-
cano is one such hybrid, most likely now grac-
ing Italian vineyards by way of the United
States, and is therefore genetically and enologi-
cally completely different from true Tuscan
Colorino s. Experts such as consultant wine-
maker Lorenzo Landi believe that Colorino di
Lucca and Colorino di Pisa are also related to
American grapevines. Stefano Dini, one of Ita-
ly's most talented viticulturalists, goes one step
further, cautioning that Colorino di Pisa is a
misnomer: he believes (and he's not alone) that
it's identical to a coloring variety called Alicante
Bouschet, typically grown in Tuscany's coastal
Maremma region, in France, and many other
parts of the world. (In reality, Alicante Bou-
schet is not just one grape but rather a family of
crossings, including Alicante Henri Bouschet
and other similarly named grapes distin-
guished only by numbers, such as Alicante
Bouschet number 1, number 2, and many oth-
ers. ) Dini also t hinks t hat Color ino del Valdar no
and Abrusco, another Tuscan coloring variety,
are identical, but this time he's in the minority,
and he admits that Abrusco has more orangey
leaves come the fall than any other Colorino-
Something variety he knows of. In fact, Gian-
domenico Gigante of the Tenuta La Traiana
estate in Tuscany grows both a Colorino del
Valdarno and an Abrusco del Valdarno, and
views them as completely distinct. Still other
experts, such as Giancarlo Scalabrelli of the
University of Pisa, believe that Abrusco is iden-
tical not to Colorino del Valdarno but to Colo-

rino di Pisa. As these questions are not resolved,
I keep Abrusco separate from the Colorino
group in this topic, as does the National Regis-
try, in which Abrusco is listed on its own, at
number 347 (see ABRUSCO, chapter 4).
In any case, the most cogent difference
among the four basic Colorino s is that Colorino
Americano, Colorino di Lucca, and Colorino di
Pisa all have colored pulps and juices, while
Colorino del Valdarno's pulp and juice are clear.
This is what really matters to wine lovers, for in
general it is varieties with colorless pulps that
make the best wines. Wines made with Nebbi-
olo, Merlot, or Pinot Nero—all varieties with
colorless pulps—are red only because the juice
is initially left in contact with the grape skins,
which leach pigments, eventually turning what
was a colorless juice into a red one. Colorino del
Valdarno is therefore the highest quality of the
Tu sc a n Colorino s, at least in terms of wine. In
fact, this is the only point relative to the Colori-
no s that practically everyone agrees on. Given
that this is Italy, that's no small feat, and so I'd
be inclined to believe on the strength of this
observation alone, even if I hadn't tasted wines
made with each Colorino variety.
Castelli disagrees: he feels that Colorino del
Valdarno is too productive, is a very late ripener,
and often fails to reach full phenolic maturity.
He is joined in his resistance to Colorino del
Valdarno by a few outliers who prefer their own
local Colorino s, or what they think are their own
Colorino s. Enrico Lippi, the owner of the well-
respected Frascole estate in Chianti Rufi na (an
area particularly rich in high-quality Colorino s),
argues that “historically, the Colorino s of the
Mugello area of Tuscany have always been of
higher quality than those of the Valdisieve,
Valdarno, and Aretino areas. Our area's Colo-
rino looks very different from that of Valdarno,
for example, characterized as it is by a much
smaller, loosely-packed bunch and small ber-
ries.” Of course, whether the grapevines Lippi is
referring to look different because of viral dis-
eases, or because they are different Colorino del
Valdarno biotypes, or because they are distinct
varieties altogether is anybody's guess.